Child of Magic
by Experiment 516
Summary: "Who are you?" she asked between gulps of air, "And where is my sister!" "Calm down, calm down," Loki repeated to the young girl. Thoughts raced through his head and he made a split-second decision, "I am your father, you are safe here."


Loki struggled against the two guards holding his arms. _How could I have lost the war?!_ he fumed. _I had an army, an army!_ He went limp and let them drag him down the long corridor. As far as he could tell, he was the only one who would be in the prison. The two guards shoved him into his cell, if you could call it that. It was a stone box with a hazy golden front so the guards could see him. About the size of his old room, it was nice and full of furnishings. The guards shoved him in and slammed the door. Loki pounded on the door, trying to dislodge it somehow. It didn't budge. Sighing with defeat he sunk down onto the bed in his cell and fell into a fitful sleep.

He awoke to a tortured screaming. It set his teeth on edge and he clamped his hands over his ears, trying to shut out the agonized cry of pain. _Make it stop, make it stop!_ he thought over and over again. What seemed like hours went by and still the screaming continued. Finally the full-throated scream died down to whimpers and moans. The cell door next to him slammed shut and all was quiet except for the small noises of pain coming from the person in the cell next to him.

The person whispered "Where are you?" It was a forlorn whisper, not talking to him as much as empty air, as if she has been whispering that to herself forever and she knew her question would never be answered.

"Elegin, is that you?" Loki whispered.

The girl whispered back,"You can't be him...he was gone, gone forever. He died when Thor let go of him and he fell. The guards said he let go, but I know it was Thor who let go..." the sentence broke off with a tremble, and Loki heard her begin to sob harder.

He longed to reach out and embrace her, to dry her tears and tell her it would be alright. "El, it is me I promise. Just hold on, I'll find a way to get you out of here." Loki heard the thump of someone kicking a wall. He looked down at the corner of his cell and saw that a small network of cracks had spread out from a point in the wall. The noise of someone punching a wall came again, and again, and a fourth time. A small section of the wall crumbled and a child's face peered tentatively into Loki's cell. Her eyes met his, and she gave a cry of disbelief. Emerald crawled through the gap and hugged Loki tightly, like she would never let him go. Finally Loki pulled away and held her at arms' length.

"You have grown so much," he said, his voice cracking slightly. Elegin gave a small shiver and rubbed her arms to try and warm them.

"Are you cold?" he asked, concerned.

"A little bit," she admitted.

Without a word Loki ripped off the cape of the battle suit he had been wearing (he had never taken it off after he had been captured) and wrapped it snugly around her.

She sighed, "Much better."

Loki looked at her and said, "You had better crawl back into your cell. I think I hear the guards.

She silently slipped back into her own cell with the cape drawn tightly around her. Loki laid down in his bed. Just before he fell asleep he saw a small green-sleeved hand poked through the hole in the wall. He took it and, for once since his childhood he felt as if everything was right with the world.

Loki wearily blinked sleep from his eyes. At first he wasn't sure what had awoken him. He squeezed his hand,expecting to feel the warmth of Elegin's hand, but only squeezed empty air. A puzzled expression overcame his pale features. Then a moment later he heard what had awoken him. Someone was yelling, he knew this person. Loki struggled to put a name to the person for a few moments before he realized, it was Thor! What was he doing here? His dim-witted adopted brother had obviously not noticed the hole in the side of the cell. Loki looked through the hole and saw Emerald's back had covered up most of the opening. He shifted slightly and saw Thor brandishing Loki's cape around.

"Where did you get this?" Thor yelled angrily. Elegin whimpered quietly but said nothing.

"I have no desire to hurt you," he went on more gently, "But if you refuse to tell me I will have to result to less desirable means to make you answer me."

Emerald slowly shook her head sadly and did not reply.

"So be it," said Thor as he pulled out his hammer.

Loki looked away and lost what little color in his face he had. He knew the damage Mjolnir could do. She would certainly not survive more than three strikes with it. Then another thought occurred to him. _What if he struck her with, not only the hammer, but the lightning as well?_ Loki looked again and saw Thor's hammer crackle with the telltale blue light of lightning. Loki couldn't stand it anymore. He ran to his cell door and pounded his fists against it.

"_Thor!_" he shouted,"_Get away from her! I gave her the cape, she's my-" _Loki stopped himself from continuing and he knew that he had already gone too far.

Thor was quiet. He slowly walked out of Elegin's cell and into his. The Thunder God glared and spoke softly.

"She is your what?" When Loki didn't reply, shouted,"She is your what?"

Loki spoke quietly, "She is my daughter."


End file.
